ST. ANDREWS, Scotland Tiger Woods has separated from one of his most trusted inner circle.

His putter.

That’s right. The Scotty Cameron putter that has been in Tiger Woods’ bag since May 1999 a contributor to 13 of his 14 majors and 63 of his 71 PGA Tour wins is being benched this week in favor of a newer Nike model he says performs better on slow greens.

“It rolls the ball better and rolls it faster,” Woods said Tuesday after revealing the change. “On these greens, I’ve had to make very little adjustment in how hard I’m hitting it compared to if I had my older putter.”

A wet July has left the Old Course’s greens extremely slow this week, with more rain on the way Wednesday and for Thursday’s opening round. “The greens aren’t up to speed,” Woods said.

It’s no secret Woods has been frustrated with his putting this year, slow greens or not. He ripped Pebble Beach’s greens at the U.S. Open, calling the poa annua putting surfaces “awful,” then was equally frustrated when he averaged 30 putts per round at the AT&T National.

However, he said the origins for this change go much further back.

“I’ve always been tempted to change my putter on slower greens,” he said. “I always feel more comfortable when the greens get quick. Some of my best putting rounds were when the greens were running at 14 (on the Stimpmeter) or something like that.

“I’ve experimented with other putters through the years, but I’ve never put one in play until now.”

Woods also parried more than a dozen questions from British media related to his personal troubles and public image in the fallout of last winter’s sex scandal.

He refused comment on the state of his relationship with estranged wife Elin, but left no doubt last week’s time with daughter Sam and son Charlie were worth flying back from Ireland after a charity pro-am.

“That was an incredible experience, to hang out with my kids,” he said. “Normally I don’t come over, play two days and then go back home. But the reason why I did is obviously for my kids, and we had a great time.”

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